Question

[BillyMac]

Nevadaref: Thanks for your research and citations. If I recall correctly, when the NFHS first went with the three point try, officials had to differentiate between a real try (three points), and a pass that accidentally went into the basket (two points), both from behind the arc. A few years later, the NFHS took that judgment away and said that any thrown ball from behind the arc counted as three points, a pass, or a shot. You're right, in that there seems to be a contradiction between 4.41.4 SITUATION B, and 5.2.1 SITUATION C. From this contradiction, it appears that the NFHS still wants us to determine the difference between a pass that goes in, and a shot. Is this some kind space time warp? I'm confused. I hope that somebody with some contacts at the NFHS can get this settled once and for all. If I remember correctly, didn't one of our Forum members date Mary Struckhoff back when they were in high school, and doesn't he have her personal email address?

4.41.4 SITUATION B: A1’s three-point try is short and below ring level when it hits the shoulder of: (a) A2; or (b) B1 and rebounds to the backboard and through the basket. RULING: The three-point try ended when it was obviously short and below the ring. However, since a live ball went through the basket, two points are scored in both (a) and (b). (5-1)

5.2.1 SITUATION C: A1 throws the ball from behind the three-point line. The ball is legally touched by: (a) B1 who is in the three-point area; (b) B1 who is in the two-point area; (c) A2 who is in the three-point area; or (d) A2 who is in the two-point area. The ball continues in flight and goes through A's basket. RULING: In (a) and (b), three points are scored since the legal touching was by the defense and the ball was thrown from behind the three-point line. In (c), score three points since the legal touch by a teammate occurred behind the three-point line. In (d), score two points since the legal touch by a teammate occurred in the two-point area.

5.2.1 SITUATION B: With 2:45 left in the second quarter, B1 has the ball on the left wing in Team B's frontcourt, standing behind the three-point arc. B5 makes a backdoor cut toward the basket. B1 passes the ball toward the ring and B5 leaps for the potential "alley-oop" dunk. The ball, however, enters and passes through the goal directly from B1's pass and is not touched by B5. RULING: Score three points for Team B. A ball that is thrown into a team's own goal from behind the three-point arc scores three points, regardless of whether the thrown ball was an actual try for goal.

5-2-1: A successful try, tap or thrown ball from the field by a player who is located behind the team's own 19-foot, 9-inch arc counts three points. A ball that touches the floor, a teammate inside the arc, an official, or any other goal from the field counts two points for the team into whose basket the ball is thrown. See 4-5-4.

[Camron Rust]

Billy, the only solution of these apparently conflicting case plays is to conclude that the "3-point thrown ball" is only to apply to a ball that is thrown in such a way that it has a chance to the enter the basket without any redirection....whether it is the intent of the thrower or not....and that a mere touch by team B doesn't negate the chance for scoring 3 ponts. And, further, that it can no longer be a three if there is no chance to enter the basket without a deflection. This notion is only way to reconcile the various posted situations .